Auto Gordian Knot (F)
THE tool for DivX / XviD backup utility. With support of DVDs, MPEG2 (such as DVB captures and transport streams), MPEG1 sources along with AVI/DV sources encoding into your favourite MPEG4 format was never as easy as now!Homepage:http://www.autogk.me.uk/

Quintessential Player (F)
Free media player that is skinnable. Plugins can also be used.Homepage:http://www.quinnware.com

TeamTalk (F)
Allows you to talk with our friends or colleagues using the internet or a local area network. All you need is a microphone and a sound card. Unlike many other internet voice applications TeamTalk allows any number of people to participate in a conversation.

Fraps (F) & (S) $29.95
Fraps is designed as a generic tool for DirectX and OpenGL games. In its current form Fraps performs many tasks and can best be described as:
->Benchmarking Software
->Screen Capture Software
->Realtime Video Capture SoftwareHomepage:http://www.fraps.com

The main difference between the Standard Version and Profession Version is that Professional Version supports natural voice, but standard version doesn't support it. However, you can use it to read emails, text documentations and internet news using Microsoft Voices.
It also comes with its own Web Browser that you can use independently for searching & hearing web sites. Homepage:http://www.naturalreaders.com/

Audioscrobbler (F)
A plugin for all the major mp3 players that sends anonymous info to a large database. When any song reaches 50%, it will send the artist and song name of the track to the database and add it to your profile/history. You can then use this site and its database to locate users with similar tastes as you, or go to http://www.pmbrowser.info/audioscrobbler.html and view an interactive display of what other people are listening to compared to your tastes. Also, it allows you to show yourself what kind of things you end up listening to the most often, in case you didn't know. Visit my profile at http://www.audioscrobbler.com/download.php to get an example. And, I don't consider it spyware because it only sends the information I want it to: artist name and song name, attached to my TOTALLY ANONYMOUS profile.Homepage:http://www.audioscrobbler.com/download.php

Cole2k Codec Pack (F)
simply the best video codec pack out there. Easy to install and uninstall and configure, and remarkably complete and compliant.Homepage:http://www.cole2k.net/

Media Player Classic, Zoom Player Standard, VLC (F)
Winamp sucks for playing video, so I use these. Why? All of them take every file format and codec you can throw at them. All of them support subtitles. All of them support multiple audio streams. Zoom Player Standard is easily the best-looking and most configurable of them all, but Media Player classic is less resource-intensive, so it gets first billing. Besides, it's perfectly functional and decent to look at. Alas, Zoom Player Standard does not feature DVD playback - that's only in the Pro version. VLC is for those of you who want extremely efficient network streaming of video and don't like the contorls and video in the same window. I cannot stand to try to play videos in any other media players.Homepages
Media Player Classic - http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/
Zoom Player Standard - http://www.inmatrix.com/files/zoomplayer_download.shtml
VLC - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

CamStudio 2.0 (F)
CamStudio records screen activity from your Windows Desktop into standard AVI movie files for use in software demonstrations and active presentations. This version allows you to record audio from microphone or speakers, create anti-aliased screen captions in mutiple languages, display a transparent webcam window and produce Flash (SWF) movies.(The original software developer no longer supports this product on their website, after releasing a CamStudio 2.1 which was shareware. They then passed their idea on to Macromedia for what is now called "RoboDemo". This link will let you download the last free version along with Flash conversion.)Homepage:http://www.downloadsarea.com/Applicatio ... sp?id=1272

Winamp 5 (F) / (S) $14.95Free
Plays almost any video or music file type.
Full Featured Music Library
Integrated Internet Radio and TV
Supports Modern and Classic Skins
Tripped Out Vizualizations

Pay For
Plays almost any video or music file type.
Full Featured Music Library
Integrated Internet Radio and TV
Supports Modern and Classic Skins
Tripped Out Vizualizations
Rip/Encode Music into MP3
Burn CDs up to 48xHomepage:http://www.winamp.com/player

Quicktime Alternative and Real Alternative (F)
They are built on Media PLayer classic. and You will never have to install Real player ever again. I hate real player with passion, it takes over the computers, and its a B----H removing all the c**p from the startup.Homepage:http://www.k-litecodecpack.com/

FFDShow (F)

FFDShow is a set of DirectShow filters and VFW codec for video compression, decompression and processing and audio compression and processing.

Miranda Instant Messenger (F)
Miranda IM is a multi protocol instant messenger client. Miranda IM is designed to be resource efficient and easy to use. It uses very little memory and requires no installation. It supports ICQ, AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, Gadu-Gadu, Tlen, Netsend and other protocols. Very nice!Homepage:http://www.miranda-im.org/

mIRC (F)
Another highly unoriginal but very good choice. Trillian's IRC features just don't cut it for me, so I use mIRC for all IRC chats. It's extremely easy to use and configurable. Homepage:http://www.mirc.com

WinRAR (S) $29
WinRAR is a powerful archive manager. It can backup your data and reduce size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format.Homepage:http://www.rarlabs.com/

Strokeit (F)
StrokeIt is an advanced mouse gesture recognition engine and command processor. What is a mouse gesture? Mouse gestures are simple symbols that you "draw" on your screen using your mouse. When you perform a mouse gesture that StrokeIt can recognize, it will perform the "action" associated with that gesture. In short, it's a nifty little program that lets you easily control programs by drawing symbols with your mouse.Homepage:http://www.tcbmi.com/strokeit/

Object Desktop (S)
Object Desktop is a desktop enhancement suite designed to allow users to turbo-charge their Windows experience. It's like getting the next version of Windows today!

Use Object Desktop to personalize Windows to suit your particular needs. It comes with WindowBlinds, DesktopX, IconPackager, WinStyles, ObjectBar, and much more.Homepage:http://www.stardock.com/products/odnt/

ArtTray (F)
This small application allows you to minimize all applications to the system Tray.Homepage:http://www.brigsoft.com/

RJH Extensions v1.3 (F)
Feeling constrained by right-click functionality in Windows? This Free utility extends that functiionality so that you can shred, duplicate, and encrypt files. You can also print & save directory lists.

DialogMate (F)
From developer: DialogMate provides 4 Windows enhancements that helps in every day work. With DialogMate you can minimize windows to floating icons (unique feature) freeing task bars and tray bars space. Besides, DialogMate can minimize window to tray, or to make them always standing on top, over all other windows. Moreover, DialogMate helps with Open/Save dialog boxes, by providing favorites files and folders menu.

This is a must have app., just stick a shortcut to it in your startup folder and you'll have access to a whole bunch of cool little features. The best thing is the favorite directories menu it adds to all the "save as" and "open" dialog boxes. Very useful.Homepage:http://www.weird173.net/apps/dlgmate.html

TrayIt! (F)
TrayIt! allows to save precious Taskbar space for minimized windows. For each application which applies TrayIt! it creates a small icon in the System Tray. (System Tray area is located near the Clock). When application's window is minimized this icon represents the application on the Taskbar instead of the regular "minimized rectangle".
It is particularly useful for background tasks you typically keep running on your PC all day long like your favorite E-mail client, Real Player, etc.Homepage:http://www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm

TrayDevil (F)
TrayDevil can minimize any window to the system tray and also acts as a quick reboot and shutdown tool. It enables you to simply Shift+left-click on any window (program, folder, website etc.) and it will be minimized to the system tray, using its standard windows icon. In addition, you can use the middle mouse key to quickly close windows, hide the system clock and reboot your PC by double-clicking the TrayDevil icon. Small and easy to use.Homepage:http://www.snapfiles.com/get/traydevil.html

4t Tray Minimizer Free (F)
4t Tray Minimizer enables you to minimize any application to the System Tray (including Ms Outlook, Internet Explorer etc.), thereby allowing you to keep your taskbar less cluttered. To minimize any application to the task bar, simply left click (instead of the usual right-click) the minimize button or use a keyboard shortcut. Multiple instances can be grouped into a single icon to further organize the windows. Additional features include customizable keyboard shortcuts and more. Commercial version also available with some additional features.Homepage:http://www.snapfiles.com/get/trayminimizer.html

Last edited by Coolnat2004 on Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

MSYS (F)
Gives your Windows PC a UNIX feel. Why? Because some of us like the good ole days of 'chmod ugo-rw *' and 'vi'. Grab it from the MinGW page. Works great for UNIX lovers who refuse to DOS. Homepage:http://www.mingw.org

Eclipse (F)
IDE for JAVA, C++ or whatever you develop in. Works nicely with MinGW. You can also get the Visual Plugin to design JAVA programs just like Visual C++. Yep free visual GUI design. Competes with JavaBeansHomepage:http://www.eclipse.org

K9 (F)
K9 is an email filtering application that works in conjunction with your regular POP3 email program and automatically classifies incoming emails as spam (junk email) or non-spam without the need for maintaining dozens of rules or constant updates to be downloaded. It uses intelligent statistical analysis that can result in extremely high accuracy over time.Homepage:http://freeware.it-mate.co.uk/?Cat=E-mail#21

Mailwasher (F)
Very nice program that pre-filters your mail while on the server. Make a friend list, blacklist, bounce spam or just delete it before downloading, etc.Homepage:http://www.mailwasher.net/main.php

Incredimail (F)
Email program: The interface is very different, granted, but you get loads more features, like LOADs of smileys , backgrounds and animations, and can download them for free off the website. It is freeware, althought there are adverts. (Looked down upon by many users by sending user information to the company's server. See http://forum.avantbrowser.com/viewtopic ... 7318#37318 for details.)Homepage:http://www.incredimail.com

FileAnt (F)
A hybrid two panel viewer with tabs (but lacks bookmarks or favorites), FileAnt. Has FTP support, which would make it preferable to FTP Commander for me, except FTP Commander has choices for saved FTP choicesHomepage:http://www.fileant.com/

freeCommander (F)
An easy-to-use alternative to the standard windows file manager. The program helps you with daily work in Windows. Here you can find all the necessary functions to manage your data stock. You can take freeCommander anywhere - just copy the installation directory on a CD, USB-Stick or even a floppy disk - and you can even work with this program on a foreign computer.Homepage:http://www.freecommander.com/

ExplorerXP (F)
A very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non - commercial use) file manager for Windows 2000/XP.Unlike the regular Windows Explorer, it displays the total size of each folder and allows you to browse multiple folders from a tabbed interface. It also includes an option to split and merge files, and to select or delete files based on wildcards.Homepage:http://www.explorerxp.com/

Dir 2 File (F)
Dir 2 File is a small utility that allows you to export directory listings to HTML, plain text, CSV, or Excel file's quickly and extremely easily.
Includes options for HTML page customisation.Homepage:http://www.it-mate.co.uk/support/dir2file.asp

Leechget 2004 (F)
A good download manager. There is also a shareware version which has additional feautures (17 euros)Homepage:http://www.leechget.de/

Back2zip (S) $25
The program is Back2zip and it couldn't be easier. It downloaded, found my second drive, set up a "My Backup" folder and waited for me to tell it what to back up. It compressed everything I needed down to under 300mb. That includes every Avant Skin available, not to mention my entire "Documents and Settings" file, my passwords--everything I scramble to rescue when I **** up royally. Best of all it will run in the background, updating the files on a schedule I control--I set it for once an hour, but you can have it do it's thing every 10 minutes if you need to.

It's shareware for $25, but it downloads fully functional with no time limit--I think the authors count on people being so thrilled with it that they will feel guilty using it without paying! I think that's how it's working on me, anyway!Homepage:http://free-backup-software.net/backup-software.htm

MP3 Observer (T) (S) 30-day limit then $9.95
I know lots of people that swear by Media Monkey, but MP3 Observer has the same features and is simply MUCH FASTER, which is very important for an mp3 collection of thousands of files.Homepage:http://www.mp3observer.com/

FreshDownload (F)
a 100% free, no adware, no popups download enhancer. A true rarity in these days of spyware and annoying ad plagued products, FreshDownload is a far ï¿½fresherï¿½ product when compared to spyware ridden products. Homepage:http://www.freshdevices.com/

Net Transport (F)
Net Transport, one of the fastest and most powerful downloading tools that is ever made available online for free access and distribution, now features unprecedented full support of the most prevalent Internet protocols, including:
HTTP / HTTPS
FTP / through SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) / SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol)
MMS (Microsoft Media Services)
RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol)
PNM (rename PNM to RTSP)Homepage:http://www.xi-soft.com/default.htm

Directory Printer v3.4 (F)
Karen's Directory Printer can print the name of every file on a drive, along with the file's size, date and time of last modification, and attributes (Read-Only, Hidden, System and Archive)! And now, the list of files can be sorted by name, size, date created, date last modified, or date of last access. VB Runtime 6.0 required (Download Here)Homepage:http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptdirprn.asp

SavePicNoAsk Light 1.1 (F)
Internet Explorer (IE) add-on intended to free a user from necessity to enter a file name when saving an image. All you have to do is just right-click an image and select Save Picture in the IE context menu. Says it works in AB but I didn't try yet.Homepage:http://www.unhsolutions.net/SPNAL/index.shtml

SlingShot (F)
The Future of Downloading.
The future is lightning fast downloads, connections that always work, intelligent checking for new software, even management of the data you download.
With these advances plus secure file sharing, instant messaging and much more, the future is Slingshot.Homepage:http://www.tenebril.com/products/slingshot/

Soulseek (F)
I almost never use any other client/network for music. By far the best selection, even better than Kazaa/Fastrack despite the fact that Kazaa has far more users. Also has a "recommendations" feature that I'm fond of, and you can set up a wishlist to notify you when a certain file is found, if it's not available at the time of your search. Homepage:http://www.slsknet.org/

KCeasy (F)
Alas, Kazaa Lite/K++ is dead and buried, so where do we turn to access the fastrack network! KCeasy! It's only at version .10 but is already the best client for the network. And, it doesn't allow cheating bastards to avoid uploading to the network in exchange for downloading. Homepage:http://www.kceasy.com/

DC++ (F)
The best and most universally except Direct Connect hub client. Plenty of features, and if you try to use a client other than DC or DC++, many hubs will ban you, so this is the best choice. Homepage:http://dcplusplus.sourceforge.net/

Last edited by Coolnat2004 on Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

M.A.M.E. (F)
MAME is strictly a non-profit project. Its main purpose is to be a reference
to the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines. This is done for
educational purposes and to prevent many historical games from sinking into
oblivion once the hardware they run on stops working. Of course to preserve
the games, you must also be able to actually play them; you can consider
that a nice side effect.
It is not our intention to infringe on any copyrights or patents on the
original games. All of MAME's source code is either our own or freely
available. To operate, the emulator requires images of the original ROMs
from the arcade machines, which must be provided by the user. No portion of
the original ROM codes are included in the executable.Homepage:http://www.mame.net/

Snood (T) $14.95
I downloaded Snood back when it was free, so I don't know what the restrictions on the current trial version are. ANyway, it's a very fun game. If you don't like it, try Snood Towers on the same site. It's almost a shame, though, that this game has become so commercial - they even have a Game Boy Advance version now. But that's just a testimony to its addictiveness.

Liero Xtreme (F)
Think real-time Worms with better weapons and faster gameplay. Not the best graphics, but so, so fun. In this version of the original Liero, you can play online, over a LAN, or against up to 8 CPU players. Ninja rope, Nuclear Bomb, and Darts included. There are TONS of mods (some with over 150 new weapons) and thousands of levels available for download at the site, and there is a very active community still developing the software and battling each other online.Homepage:http://www.snood.com/

DeepBurner (F)
CD/DVD burner. Has worked well for me. I was able to burn where other major software names only puked.Homepage:http://www.deepburner.com

Daemon-Tools (F)
Yes, Alcohol 120% is more powerful, but it's not freeware, and in almost every case, Daemon Tools can do that job just as easily. It's a CD/DVD drive emulator. So, if you CD/DVD drive is slow, or you just have a disc image and not a disc burner (or don't feel like burning it), or you have a custom-made disc image that actually won't fit on a regular CD, Daemon-Tools is a must. VERY simple to use and non-bloated.Homepage:http://www.daemon-tools.cc/portal/portal.php

JoyToKey (F)
A keyboard emulator for joysticks. It converts joystick input into keyboard input (and mouse input). If you have a joystick and some games don't recognize it this is the utility for you. Homepage:http://www.vector.co.jp/authors/VA016823/

CDBurnerXP Pro (F)
CDBurnerXP Pro is a freeware CD/DVD-Writer program. The program can write CD-R, CD-RW DVD+R/RW DVD-R/RW discs. I think this is the only freeware burning program. (A better free burning software is above.)Homepage:http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

SimpleOCR (F)
This program can be used to scan in documents into a text file or Word doc. I have scanned docs from my scanner and from .jpegs. I've used it and it is about 99% accurate. Homepage:http://www.simpleocr.com

Last edited by Coolnat2004 on Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

Irfanview (F)
A great image editor and browser. Lets you brows directores using the scrollwheel on your mouse. Great for bringing up gamma simply, supports mass image processing and renaming. I use it a lot more than Photoshop for those purposes. Homepage:http://www.irfanview.com/

CDisplay (F)
It's a viewer for digitized comic books, or any other long sequence of image files you might want to view. It supports JPEG, GIF, and PNG, but also has it's own native formats, cbz and cbr, which are really zip and rar files of compressed images. For you comic book fans, it even has a "reduce yellow" filter, and assignable hotkeys. Really, probably only useful if you read digitized comic books, but if you DO do that, then it's a necessity.Homepage:http://www.geocities.com/davidayton/CDisplay

Gimp (F)
The free, non-bloated alternative to Photoshop. I have Photoshop CS, but when I don't feel like waiting 10 minutes for Photoshop and all its plugins to load, I start up Gimp. Lots of brushes, filters, tools, and a useful pallette-based (similar to Photoshop) interface.Homepage:http://www.gimp.org/

SlowView (F)
SlowView is a free multimedia viewer, combining an image viewer, a video player and an audio player in one single program. It allows you to quickly view and browse your multimedia collection, always with the same simple yet powerful interface. SlowView is working on all Windows platforms and supports more than 50 image, video, and audio formats!Homepage:http://www.slowview.at/

xpdf (F)
Xpdf is an open source viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files. (These are also sometimes also called 'Acrobat' files, from the name of Adobe's PDF software.) The Xpdf project also includes a PDF text extractor, PDF-to-PostScript converter, and various other utilities.Homepage:http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf

IEspell (F)
Spell checker - it can be used in any site by right clicking. Easy to use & can be customized to your usage.Homepage:http://www.iespell.com

The Font Thing (F)
The best font manager program for all you desktop publishers out there. I have access to tens of thousands of fonts, and The Font Thing allows me to install, uninstall, and view all my fonts more quickly and painlessly than anything else out there.Homepage:http://members.ozemail.com.au/~scef/tft.html

Notepad2 (F)
The original Notepad shipped with Windows is probably the handiest program of all times, small, fast, without frills! Notepad2 tries to follow this principle, it's a small, fast and free text editor with syntax highlighting for HTML and other common languages.Homepage:http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html

EditPadLite (F)
EditPad Lite is a general-purpose text editor, designed to be small and compact, yet offer all the functionality you expect from a basic text editor.Homepage:http://www.editpadpro.com/editpadlite.html

Dictionary.com Toolbar (F)
Instant access to Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and the Word of the Day
Right-click search functions — highlight and right-click to look up words on Dictionary.com or Thesaurus.com
Display results in new browser window or current browser window
Search History — save your most recent searches
Customizable display options
->Only Right-Click option available in AvantHomepage:http://dictionary.reference.com/tools/toolbar/

GlobalSpellChecker (F)
A tool for checking spelling or meaning of words from any application using Microsoft Word. It displays the meaning or spelling suggestion in a non-disturbing way so that you do not have to shift from the application you are working. You can copy the word to be checked to Clipboard by pressing Ctrl+C and invoke GlobalSpellChecker using hotkey Ctrl+Alt+S. Unlike other programs in this category, GlobalSpellchecker is loaded in memory only when called and exits after spelling check is complete.
Requirements: any CPU, 75MB RAM, 100kb disk space.

NotepadXP (F)
NotePadXP is a replacement for the standard Windows Notepad that adds a ton of extra features as well as an MS Office style interface and feel to it. It offers a Multi Document Interface (MDI), customizable toolbars, full formatting options, support for rich text, unlimited file size and much more. Documents can be saved as .TXT, .RTF or HTML. Additional features include mail merge, date/time insert, different interface styles (Office XP, Office 2000, Office in MacOS and Windows XP style) to choose from, word count, hyperlink support and many other features.Download:http://www.snapfiles.com/get/notepadxp.htmlHomepage:http://www.acsoftware.org/

Last edited by Coolnat2004 on Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

Spybot Search and Destroy (F)
Better than Adaware, has some nice features like being able to see what programs are starting up and temporarily turning them off from autostartup or eliminating them from the startup list.Homepage:http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=home

Kerio Personal Firewall (S) $45
Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF) helps users control how their computers exchange data with other computers on the Internet or local network.
--> Uses Program control similar to Zonealarm, but much more powerful..also monitors program changes and blocks several other things.Homepage:http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html

IE Privacy Keeper (F)
Simple and fast browsing history cleaner for Internet Explorer. IE Privacy Keeper lets you specify custom files/folders and registry keys to delete. The program can automatically clean up all traces of your Internet activity at Windows shutdown, start up or when the last window of Internet Explorer is closed. The secure wiping option makes it impossible to recover deleted files. Very good!Homepage:http://unhsolutions.net/IEPK/index.shtml

Complete Internet Cleanup (S)
What a lot of people don't reaslise is that even after Avant has cleared cookies, history etc, it still leaves behind the index.dat files which contain all the info about the deleted files
These can't be erased when Windows is running and normally you would have to boot into dos mode to get rid of them.

Well not any more. Complete Internet Cleanup (S) can be set to clear these index files with either shutdown or restartHomepage:http://www.pcmesh.com/

Tiny Personal Firewall (F) & (S)
"The best firewall I have ever come across."
[Click Download it to download the latest freeware version. Get the shareware version at their homepage.]Homepage:http://www.tinysoftware.com/home/tiny2?la=EN

WinBar (F)
WinBar is a free and compact program that lets you monitor your system and provides easy access to frequently used controls. WinBar will run on any Windows 9x or Windows NT based operating system. This program is absolutely free of charge and does not contain any advertisements or spyware.Homepage:http://www.winbar.nl/

Motherboard Monitor (F)
A program to monitor your motherboard/processor temperatures and fan speeds.Homepage:http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

Vilma Registry Explorer (F)
This nice utility allows to do searches inside the registry much faster than regedit and to undo the changes made to it. The program is free of charge for personal use, it's adware/spyware free .Homepage:http://www.vsft.com/regexp/download.htm

WinPatrol (F)
You can look at any program or service that is running and tell you exactly what it is. Buy the Plus version ($19.95) it will go out and retrieve all kinds of info on what ever is running, giving extremely detailed info.
If you've ever wondered what some of those weird things are this will tell you.

Aida32 (F)
The best system info prog i ever knew! he can make reviews of all kind of things about your hardware.Homepage:http://www.aida32.hu

Process Explorer (F)
Small, simple program that analyzes all processes on your computer, what files and registry keys they are accessing, etc. - very helpful if you're trying to just exactly what the **** your computer is doing, or if you've got a process running you don't want running, or if you're trying to delete a file but can't because it's being used but you don't know what process is using it (this program will tell you). Homepage:http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freew ... cexp.shtml

DC2000 (F)
Allows you to extend Trialware long past the expiry date
Simple little program to use most people I know who've used it, really like it (including me). Homepage:http://e-tech.ca/003-dc2000.asp

X-Setup Pro (F)
The best program for adjusting nearly 1,500 different things on your computer.Homepage:http://www.x-setup.net/

Adobe Reader Speed-Up (F)
Adobe Reader Speed-Up allows you to significantly speed-up the time it takes to load the Adobe reader application. You have probably noticed that opening a PDF file often takes a very long time, since the Adobe Reader is loading all sorts of plug-ins. Most of these plugins are useless to the average user, and this program will automatically disable them. It offers several options and you can also manually disable the plug-ins as needed. You can restore your original configuration at any time. We tested the program using a 300 kb PDF file and the normal Adobe load time was a painful 10 seconds; after applying the speed-up, the load time increased to 4 seconds. If you are frequently using PDF documents, this is definitely a tool to get.Homepage:http://www.snapfiles.com/get/adobespeedup.html

Ultramon (S) $25
UltraMon is a utility for multi-monitor systems, designed to increase productivity and unlock the full potential of multiple monitors.
-->efficiently move windows and maximize windows across the desktop
-->manage more applications with the Smart Taskbar
-->control application positioning with UltraMon Shortcuts
-->multi-monitor support for desktop wallpapers and screen savers
-->mirror your main monitor to secondary monitors for a presentation Homepage:http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/

TightVNC (F)
TightVNC is a free remote control software package derived from the popular VNC software. With TightVNC, you can see the desktop of a remote machine and control it with your local mouse and keyboard, just like you would do it sitting in the front of that computer.
-->Dev/Beta version reccomended rather than latest "stable" releaseHomepage:http://www.tightvnc.com/

FavoriteSync (F)
If you are looking for a Yahoo! Companion bookmark feature replacement, this is the program. You have to provide your own ftp space, but that's it (and that's not necessarily a bad thing). I believe a new version may be coming with server service.Homepage:http://www.favoritesync.com/products/fa ... /index.jsp

Hotkeys 2000 (F)
I use this for making hotkeys that software developers haven't gotten around to yet (the developer's site has disappeared but it's widely available and here's an example of where you can find it)Homepage:http://www.onlythebestfreeware.com/prog ... ram_id=141

Bayden Slickrun (F)
A "Run command" replacement. This little thing floats on your desktop (you can position or size it how you like, and it can even autohide). Here's how it works: you press a special, global key combination (I use Win+Z), and the tiny slickrun bar pops up (if it is auto-hidden), with the cursor in its textbox. Then you type anything you would in the Run box (like msconfig or iexplore), and it runs it. But, of course, that's not all. You can configure "magicworrds", which gives you even more functionality than the Google Deskbar. For example, you can type "google avant browser" after you have set up the "google" magicword to do an google web search. I have mine set up to do things like amazon search, allmusic.com search, etc. But, magicwords can also run programs (with command line options) and anything else you want it to do, all through short "magicwords." I have a google search set to "-" so all I have to type is "-avant" to do a google search for "avant." Alas, I end up using Google Deskbar more than Slickrun because I like it's mini-browser.Homepage:http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/

Graphcalc (F)
The most powerful caculator software I've ever seen and it's FREE! This is far better than most commercial caculator packages. All the basics, 2D and 3D graphing, tons of configurability and custom scripts, easy documentation and support, even does calculus! Must be seen to be believed.Homepage:http://www.graphcalc.com/

Weather Pulse (F)
There are lots of weather programs that do virtually the same thing, but my favorite is Weather Pulse. It displays the local temperature in your system tray, and when you click on it, it can show you the current weather conditions, very specific stuff, even the ten-day forecast. Light on the system resources.Homepage:http://www.tropicdesigns.net/weatherpulse.html

MacroMaker (F)
A good automation utlity. The user can simulate a series of keystrokes, mouse events, play back previous recordings of keystrokes and mouse events or execute some built-in functions with just a keystroke.Homepage:http://WWW.IJ.NET/AnthonyMathews/MacroMaker.htm

Weather Buddy (F)
Weather Buddy is a small weather monitor that displays the current temperature (F) in the system tray. Just enter any US zip code, to select the city to monitor. Color and font of the tray display can be customized.-> No Ads or Spyware, unlike...weatherbug...! (Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Required)Homepage:http://ww2.techinfosystems.com:8090/wb.aspx

ScummVM (F)
This is a nice utility that let you play old adventure games based on Scumm engine on recent computers. ScummVM also contains interpreters for several non-SCUMM games. The games supported are: Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, Loom, Monkey Island 1, Monkey Island 2, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, The Dig, Full Throttle, Curse of Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky (released as freeware), Broken Sword I, Broken Sword II, Flight of the Amazon Queen (released as freeware), Simon the Sorcerer 1, Simon the Sorcerer 2.
The program is open-source.Homepage:http://scummvm.sourceforge.net/

DOSBox (F)
DOSBox is a DOS-emulator that uses the SDL-library which makes DOSBox very easy to port to different platforms. DOSBox has already been ported to many different platforms, such as Windows, BeOS, Linux, MacOS X...
DOSBox also emulates CPU:286/386 realmode/protected mode, Directory FileSystem/XMS/EMS, Tandy/Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA graphics, a SoundBlaster/Gravis Ultra Sound card.Homepage:http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/

Enhanced Virtual Desktops (F)
Enhanced Virtual Desktop enables you to have up to 9 virtual desktops, that you can switch between from the system tray. If your desktop is cluttered with open documents you are working on, just switch to a new, clean desktop and work on something else - then go back to the other one when needed. The tray icon indicates the desktop you are currently working on, and you can quickly move forward or back, or jump to a selected desktop directly. Additional features include an option to move applications from one desktop to the other, and to show all open applications.Homepage:http://www.snapfiles.com/get/evd.html

RoboTask (S) $99.95 (T) 60 Days
RoboTask enables you to automate any combination of tasks on your computer, ranging from simply launching applications, to checking email, moving or backing up files to uploading or downloading, sending email and much more.Homepage:http://www.robotask.com/

TuneUp Utilities 2004 (S) $39.99 (T) 30 Days
TuneUp Utilities 2004 makes Windows faster, more secure and comfortable. All important aspects of system configuration, security, cleaning and maintenance are combined under a modern graphical user interface.Homepage:http://www.tune-up.com/products/tu2004/details/

Wink 1.0 (F)
Wink is a Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc). Using Wink you can capture screenshots of your software, use images that you already have, type-in explanations for each step, create a navigation sequence complete with buttons, delays, titles etc and create a highly effective tutorial for your users.Homepage:http://www.debugmode.com/wink

HotkeyP (F)
You can assign a keyboard shortcut to every executable file, document, folder or WWW page. Other commands are: shutdown or restart the computer, start a screen saver, change the desktop resolution, change the volume, set priorities of processes, terminate applications, eject CD, empty the recycle bin, change a wallpaper, etc.Homepage:http://web.quick.cz/lastp/others.html#hotkey

Last edited by Coolnat2004 on Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:47 am, edited 1 time in total.